Charles Leclerc led Carlos Sainz home as Ferrari claimed a resounding one-two triumph in Sunday's United States Grand Prix after Lando Norris was relegated to fourth, having finished third on track ahead of title rival Max Verstappen who took the third podium spot.

McLaren's Norris was penalised five seconds for gaining an advantage by leaving the track to pass the series leader and Red Bull's three-time champion on lap 53 of the 56-lap contest and dropped to fourth.

Verstappen has now extended his lead over Norris to 57 points in the drivers' championship with five races left this season.

Leclerc came home 8.562 sec seconds ahead of Sainz with Verstappen third, adrift by 19.412 seconds, leaving Norris fourth ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri and George Russell of Mercedes who finished sixth after starting from the pitlane.

Sergio Perez was seventh in the second Red Bull ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Haas, Liam Lawson of RB and Franco Colapinto of Williams.

For Leclerc, it was a first victory in the United States, his third of the season and the eighth of his career while for Ferrari it was a first one-two in American since 2006.

"It wasn't an easy weekend up to now, I have been struggling with the feeling with the car, but I had confidence in the race," said Leclerc.

"I am really happy with today, a 1-2 for the team, we couldn't have dreamed for better," he added.

"It was a difficult race for me. I never had the pace to attack and defending was quite difficult with understeer," Verstappen, meanwhile, said after the race. "It was a tough battle and tough to keep Norris behind, but it's a great result."

Norris made a good initial start from his fourth pole in five races, but left a critical gap on the inside which encouraged Verstappen to attack, forcing them both wide and allowing Leclerc to snatch the lead from fourth on the grid as they came through Turn One. (AFP)